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Pay Equity and Living Wage

About the Pay Equity and Living Wage Working Group

Created in 2019, the Berkeley Center’s Pay Equity and Living Wage Working Group explores gender-based (including LGBTQI) unequal and unfair pay and its intersection with race, ethnicity, age, disability, income status, and poverty. It examines the disparities among both workers and those who labor without any formal employment relationship across the globe. The Working Group has studied the progress made and challenges faced by countries, nations and regions around the world in addressing the gender pay gap. The Worldwide #MeToo Conference, held at Berkeley Law in May 2019, explored the relationship between the pervasive problem of workplace sexual harassment and unequal and unfair pay, a critical area that this Working Group has also studied. Collaborating with scholars, workers, lawyers and activists from around the world, The Pay Equity and Living Wage Virtual Conference will be held in Spring 2021. One goal of the conference is to identify potential, evidence-based, proactive steps to address pay inequity and living wage issues.

Pay Equity and Living Wage Working Group Projects

Pay Equity Flash Conferences

2nd International Equal Pay Day Flash Conference: updates coming

1st International Equal Pay Day Flash Conference: This flash conference explored the solutions for equal pay worldwide. Some topics discussed were: Women’s Economic Empowerment, equal pay in the United States, equal pay in Europe, and FPI Fair Pay Innovation lab.

Who We Are

Co-Directors

  • Portrait of Patricia Shiu

    Patricia Shiu

    • Former Director, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
    • Profile

    Patricia A. Shiu was appointed Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the United States Department of Labor and served from 2009 to 2016. She enforced Executive Order 11246, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act which prohibit employment discrimination by covered federal contractors. Ms. Shiu and the DOL finalized five regulations, including OFCCP’s sex discrimination regulations, and required aspirational hiring goals for individuals with disabilities and covered veterans. Under her leadership, OFCCP issued two new regulations, Executive Order 13665, requiring pay transparency from federal contractors, and Executive Order 13672, prohibiting discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity. Ms. Shiu established OFCCP’s Indian and Native American Employment Rights Program to promote job opportunities for Native Americans and Indians on construction projects. She worked with the EEOC on its Pay Data Collection Tool.

    Ms. Shiu served on the White House National Pay Task Force and represented the Department of Labor as a member of the White House Initiative on Asian American Pacific Islanders. Prior to joining the Department of Labor, Ms. Shiu was the Vice President for Programs at the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center where she worked for 26 years litigating individual and class action civil rights cases. Ms. Shiu advocated for the passage of California’s Family Rights Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and in 2002, California’s Paid Family Leave Law. Ms. Shiu was the President of California Women Lawyers in 1987. She is the recipient of the National Employment Law Project Honor Roll Award, the Williams Institute Women in Leadership Award, the Joe Morozumi Lifetime Achievement Award, the Abby J. Leibman Pursuit of Justice Award, and the Pacific Asian-American Women Bay Area Coalition Woman Warrior Award. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of San Francisco School of Law.

  • Portrait of Stephanie Bornstein

    Stephanie Bornstein

    • Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law
    • Profile

    Stephanie Bornstein is a Professor of Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she teaches and writes in the areas of employment and labor law, antidiscrimination law, and civil procedure. Her recent scholarship includes projects on both the gender and racial pay gaps and on pay data disclosure efforts around the world. From 2019-2020, Bornstein served as the Chair of the American Association of Law Schools Section on Employment Discrimination Law. For its 10th edition, forthcoming in 2021, she will be co-author of a leading law school casebook in the field, Sullivan, Bornstein & Zimmer, Cases & Materials on Employment Discrimination (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen, 2021).

Student Assistants